Participle Clauses: Form, Uses and Examples

A participle clause is a dependent clause with no subject and no tense. It starts with a participle: an -ing form (walking), a past participle (built, written) or a perfect form (having eaten). The main clause gives the subject and the tense, and the participle clause adds background: when, why, how or with what result.

Participle clauses are more common in writing than in speech. They help you avoid repeating subjects and linking words, and they make texts sound more concise. In speech, people usually use full clauses with because, when and after. To review past participles, see the irregular verbs list.

Use the -ing form when the subject of the main clause does the action. The clause can show something happening at the same time (Walking home, I met Sam = While I was walking home), a reason (Feeling ill, she stayed in bed = Because she felt ill), or a result that follows from the main clause (The river flooded, causing chaos).

A clause of result usually comes after the main clause and a comma. Clauses of time and reason often come first. You can keep the conjunction for clarity when the meaning is time: While waiting for the bus, I read the news. After leaving school, she joined the army. Because is not used this way: for a reason, use the -ing clause alone (Feeling ill, not Because feeling ill).

Use the past participle when the subject of the main clause receives the action. The meaning is passive: Built in 1900, the house... means The house was built in 1900. These clauses are very common in descriptions, instructions and advertising.

Past participle clauses can also show a condition: Taken twice a day, the medicine works well means If it is taken twice a day. With condition, the clause often starts with if or unless: If stored in a cool place, the cheese lasts for weeks. For more about the passive, read the passive voice.

Use having + past participle when the action in the participle clause clearly happened before the action in the main clause, or to stress that it was complete. Having finished my homework, I went out means I finished it first, and then I went out.

With short actions that follow each other naturally, the simple -ing form is often enough: Opening the door, she walked in. Use having done when the first action took some time or when the order needs to be clear. The passive version is having been + past participle: Having been told the news, he called his mother.

A participle can also replace a relative clause after a noun. Remove who, which or that and the verb be, and keep the participle: The woman who is sitting next to me becomes The woman sitting next to me. The car that was stolen last night becomes The car stolen last night.

You can also reduce active clauses in the present simple or past simple: People who live near the airport becomes People living near the airport. But you cannot reduce a clause about a single finished action with the -ing form: say The man who called you yesterday, not The man calling you yesterday.

The most important rule: the participle clause and the main clause should have the same subject. Walking into the room, I noticed the smell means I was walking and I noticed. If the subjects are different, the sentence becomes confusing or funny. Walking into the room, the smell hit me suggests that the smell was walking. This error is called a dangling participle.

To fix it, change the main clause so its subject does the action (Walking into the room, I noticed the smell), or use a full clause (As I walked into the room, the smell hit me). Some fixed phrases are accepted even without a shared subject: generally speaking, judging by, considering, given, provided that and assuming. You can also give the participle its own subject in formal writing: The weather being fine, we went out.

You will see participle clauses in news reports, stories, product descriptions and academic writing. In exam essays they are a quick way to show range: replace one or two because or when clauses with participles, but do not use them in every sentence. Read linking words for other ways to join ideas.

In conversation, people mostly use them in fixed expressions like Talking of..., Speaking of which..., Considering the price... and Having said that..., which means However.